Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO) Receives $39.71 Average Price Target from Brokerages

Shares of Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ:VECO) have been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Moderate Buy” from the seven analysts that are presently covering the firm, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating on the company. The average 12-month price objective among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $39.71.

Several research firms have recently weighed in on VECO. Oppenheimer decreased their price objective on shares of Veeco Instruments from $45.00 to $40.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, November 7th. StockNews.com raised Veeco Instruments from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday, December 6th. Benchmark cut their price objective on Veeco Instruments from $42.00 to $38.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, November 7th. Citigroup raised Veeco Instruments from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $33.00 target price on the stock in a report on Monday. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group cut their price target on Veeco Instruments from $35.00 to $30.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, November 7th.

Insider Activity at Veeco Instruments

In related news, CFO John P. Kiernan sold 2,500 shares of Veeco Instruments stock in a transaction on Monday, November 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $28.67, for a total transaction of $71,675.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer now owns 80,142 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,297,671.14. The trade was a 3.03 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. 2.40% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Veeco Instruments

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of VECO. Wasatch Advisors LP boosted its stake in shares of Veeco Instruments by 50.3% in the third quarter. Wasatch Advisors LP now owns 2,640,649 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $87,485,000 after acquiring an additional 883,815 shares during the period. Driehaus Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Veeco Instruments by 119.3% in the 2nd quarter. Driehaus Capital Management LLC now owns 1,458,288 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $68,117,000 after purchasing an additional 793,429 shares in the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company boosted its stake in Veeco Instruments by 20.1% in the 3rd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 2,216,351 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $73,428,000 after purchasing an additional 371,221 shares during the period. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP grew its holdings in Veeco Instruments by 37.3% during the 3rd quarter. Westfield Capital Management Co. LP now owns 1,175,759 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $38,953,000 after buying an additional 319,451 shares in the last quarter. Finally, New York State Common Retirement Fund raised its position in shares of Veeco Instruments by 249.0% during the third quarter. New York State Common Retirement Fund now owns 430,757 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $14,271,000 after buying an additional 307,348 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.46% of the company’s stock.

Veeco Instruments Stock Performance

VECO stock opened at $28.15 on Tuesday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $27.82 and its 200 day simple moving average is $33.47. The company has a current ratio of 3.54, a quick ratio of 2.41 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.33. Veeco Instruments has a 12-month low of $25.52 and a 12-month high of $49.25. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.60 billion, a PE ratio of 20.85 and a beta of 1.15.

Veeco Instruments (NASDAQ:VECO) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 6th. The semiconductor company reported $0.46 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.45 by $0.01. Veeco Instruments had a return on equity of 10.92% and a net margin of 11.34%. The company had revenue of $184.80 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $180.57 million. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.41 earnings per share. Veeco Instruments’s revenue was up 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts forecast that Veeco Instruments will post 1.12 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

About Veeco Instruments

Veeco Instruments Inc, together with its subsidiaries, develops, manufactures, sells, and supports semiconductor and thin film process equipment primarily to make electronic devices in the United States, Europe, the Middle East, and Africa, China, Rest of the Asia-Pacific, and internationally. The company offers laser annealing, ion beam deposition and etch, metal organic chemical vapor deposition, single wafer wet processing and surface preparation, molecular beam epitaxy, advanced packaging lithography, atomic layer deposition, and other deposition systems.